1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to cooling systems for electronic devices and in particular to cooling systems for hard disk drives (HDDs). Still more particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to techniques for cooling hard disk drives (HDDs) using vapor momentum.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continue to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Large scale server systems are examples of information handling systems. These servers can perform significant workloads and generate a large amount of heat during their operation. A significant portion of the heat is generated by the operation of hard disk drives (HDDs), which can be locally (that is, internally or externally) connected on a same chassis as the processors and other units of the server. Due in part to the large amount of heat generated, these servers are typically rack mounted and cooled via internal fans and/or fans attached to the back of the rack or elsewhere within the server ecosystem. As the need for access to greater and greater processing and storage resources continues to expand, the density of server systems (i.e., the amount of processing power and/or storage placed on a single server, the number of servers placed in a single rack, and/or the number of servers and or racks deployed on a single server farm, continue to increase. With the desire for increasing processing or storage density in these server systems, the thermal challenges that result continue to be one of the biggest obstacles. Conventional fan based cooling systems require large amounts of power, and the cost of power required to drive high flow fans increases exponentially with the increase in server densities. What is therefore needed is an efficient, low power usage system and method for cooling the HDDs and other components of the server, while allowing for the desired increased processing and/or storage densities on the individual server chassis.